1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine which includes a display unit that displays an image for use in a game, such as a liquid crystal display device, and in which the game proceeds using the image displayed on the display unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is a gaming machine which includes a display unit that displays an image for use in a game (a game image), such as a liquid crystal display device, and in which the game proceeds using the image displayed on the display unit. As the gaming machine of this type, for example, there are the following gaming machines: a gaming machine that is operated by a player to rotate or scroll reels (hereinafter called “pseudo-reels”) displayed as images on the liquid crystal display device, thus performing variable display (which gaming machine is a so-called video slot machine), and a gaming machine such that card images showing cards are displayed and, in accordance with player's operational entry, display of the card images is changed to allow a game to proceed (which gaming machine is also called a card gaming machine). In the video slot machine out of these gaming machines, winning or losing of the game and a mode in which the game is won (winning mode) are determined from a combination of symbols (hereinafter called a “symbol combination”) falling on a predetermined valid line (pay line) when the reels are stopped, and payout of media for use in the game, such as medals and coins, (hereinafter called “coins”) is performed in response to the winning mode.
For example, JP-A-2002-537874 discloses a gaming machine capable of performing a video simulation as rotating reels are displayed on a display unit.
As in the aforesaid conventional gaming machines, a gaming machine, which includes a display unit that displays a game image and in which a game proceeds using the game image displayed on the display unit, is in most cases configured such that image data for displaying the game image is stored in a storage unit such as an image ROM and is read therefrom to display the game image on the display unit.
However, because of the regulations of a country in which to install and use the gaming machine, laws, rules and the needs of the market, the specification (mainly the layout) of the image game sometimes varies from country to country, in which case there is the following problem. That is, it is required that the gaming machines of this type be broken out according to country in which to use them (hereinafter called “user countries”, e.g., the United States and Australia) and that image data that meets the specification of each user country be generated and stored into the storage unit for each of the gaming machines. In other words, an each country's individualized response is required, such that image data are generated and stored according to different specifications for different countries, which contributes to the requirement of time and cost to develop the gaming machine.
Besides, there is a need of, on the one hand, an individualized response not only for each country but also for each state, province, district, etc. and, on the other hand, an individualized response for each month, season, year, etc.